Journals of Thoth 'Keltam
Though Thoth 'Keltam never set foot upon Kaaran, his legacy survives as his lifes work, the Journal of Thoth 'Keltam, or the Thoth Codices. Carried across the seas by his acolytes, the Journals were one of the few sources of knowledge that was available to the surviving Keltashans as they rebuilt their society from scratch, and has thus had a considerable influence on Kaaranese history, culture, and society. Thoth regarded himself as an athiest, and placed little faith in the abilities of spirits and gods, though he dedicated at least one Journal to the nature of the divine, where he expressed some support for the concept of an immortal soul. For the most part, however, the Journals are a written record of his lifetime's work studying what was around him - psychology, sociology, mathematics, geology, chemistry, physics - the list goes on. The Journals themselves number one hundred and eleven, with some subjects encompassing dozens of books. Thoth was a genius who was ahead of his time. While a tremendous source for early scientific knowledge, the Journals are mostly remembered for being the first written recording of the Keltam Peninsula Ruins. Discovered in 430 BC, their presence and the implications it held on Keltam religious doctrine was massive, sparking a period of religious upheaval. Many new cults and religious orders sprung up, either advocating the worship or reverance of these ruins, or their destruction. Thoth himself tried to keep an objective point of view in his studies of the ruins, but found it hard to remain objective as the true monumentality of the ruins became clear to him. As such, to prevent anyone from misusing his records, he encoded much of his work, scattering much of it across the entire set of Journals. To this day, his code has yet to be completely cracked, though some advancements have been made since the arrival of Covenant technology to Ketesh. The Journals nevertheless stand as a testament to the genius of Thoth, and the "Keltam Riddle" is well known across the continent as a euphemism for something of someone that is inscrutable. While many religious orders have tried to claim that Thoth's professed athiesm belied secret piety, only the Voltakran Alchemy sect of the Cult of Quenyathar has managed to infuse Thoth's work successfully, using the Journals as the basis for the Voltakran proto-science. Resembling ancient Earth alchemy to a degree, the glyphs and runes enscribed upon Forerunner artefacts have been adopted as components of alchemical calculations with a small degree of success. Original Voltakran Alchemy focussed more on the divine aspects of the world than the practical, but shifts have since produced true scientific method, and the "discovery" of gravity and electricity by Eldra 'Voltakra in 1400 AD and her theories about early physics propelled the Kaaranese into an age of scientific discovery that rivalled the Industrial Revolution of Britain. Even after the Covenant brought their technology to the planet, Kaaranese still possess more of a scientific ethic than their Sanghelios compatriots, and have produced some interesting innovations while skirting around Prophet decrees on the access to Forerunner relics. Thoth himself is credited for this, and his Journals have been reprinted innumerable times. Each university keeps at least one set, and individuals have sometimes paid high prices for reprints, hoping to uncover some great secret. They invariably fail in these attempts, but the practice continues. Gallery Though most of its information was in written text, Thoth inscribed each Journal with a unique glyph, similar to those found on Keltam ruins. Though it is likely he had little clue as to their true meaning, some conspiracy theorists propose that he managed to decode the true Forerunner language, and that the secrets of the Forerunners are encoded in the glyphs themselves, hidden in plain sight. THe glyphs do not map to known Forerunner glyphs, and even the Prophet Ministry of Tranquility was unable to decipher their true meaning. It is likely that the glyphs are merely stylised representations and imitations, rather than accurate transcriptions. The Journals have been damaged throughout the ages, and many of the glyphs have been lost, though some still remain known. File:Labyrinth Glyph.jpg|While the journals that bore this glyph were more focussed on the Forerunner ruins as a whole, the glyph is mostly used to represent the mythical Labyrinth Array. File:LujonCircle.jpg|Thoth's extensive treatises on the nature of spirituality and religion, and in particular their negative effects on society, are adorned by this glyph. File:LujonCirlce2.jpg|Thoth experimented with metallurgy for a time, and his records are adorned by this symbol. Similar glyphs have been found on relics near deposits of titanium and vanadium, and may mean "hardened" or "adamant." File:BarrySoulCircle.jpg|While Thoth himself held little belief in "Demons", he still wrote extensive journal entries on the subject. File:HumanCircle.jpg|The most intricate of the glyphs, this is the only one that Thoth explicitly singles out as his own creation, an attempt at using his knowledge of Forerunner symbology at creating his own sentence or phrase. The result is remarkably divergent to Forerunner designs, but has some similarities - the actual sentence still has not been translated. File:MajhalCircle.jpg|Found on many Forerunner minor relics on Kaaran, the symbol may actually mean "south" or "opposite". Thoth uses it to represent his ideas on conflict and opposition. File:TuckerCircle1.jpg|Thoth's opinions of birth, death, and rebirth were unique at the time, the first such historical philosopher to posit that upon death, a soul does not dwell in an afterlife, but that it return to be reborn and live life again. The glyph may have a dual meaning of "creation" and "destruction." File:TuckerCircle2.jpg|Adorning the cover to Journals that deal with societal and cultural change. File:TuckerCircle3.jpg|Used to adorn the volumes that dealt with geological features of Ketesh, the symbol has come to be regarded as that of Ketesh as a whole, though Thoth only intended it as a symbol of geology specifically. File:TuckerCircle5.jpg|Thoth used the symbol as representative of his ideas on gravity, electricity, and other early physics subjects. The true meaning of the glyph is more akin to "ascension" or "elevation," perhaps an indication on Thoth's views on the benefits of knowledge. File:TuckerCircle7.jpg|This glyph is used to represent Thoths treatises on mathematics, and has been adopted by most Kaaranese universities as the universal symbol for mathematical studies. File:GranCircle.jpg|This symbol is present on most volumes that describe the fauna of the natural world. File:PsirenCircle.jpg|This glyph, while similar to some Forerunner designs, is also radically different in other ways, and may be an invention of Thoth's. It adorns the cover of the Journal entries that dealt with the flora of Ketesh. File:ScarCircle.jpg|This is perhaps the most controversial glyph, and although the Journals themselves were granted "dubious but not indismissable" canonicity, this glyph has been excluded from the archives of Forerunner symbols. It is used to represent Thoth himself, and is likely to merely be a creative ornament. Thoth was as much an artist as he was a scientist or mathematician. Quotes Remarks *"Is this like an Elite DaVinci Code?" *"I specialise in Covenant translation, and I have to say, the Thoth Codices are some pretty good reading. If you can get past the cyphers and encryption, and arrange each sentence so that it makes sense. Seriously, this guy was paranoid as hell." *"Even the Prophets could not deny Thoth his voice. He speaks to us now, through the mists of time, through his legacy."